Objectives The aim of this update on a cohort of male paint industry workers was to determine whether an excess of mortality and incidence of lymphatic and hematopoietic tumors, particularly multiple myeloma, still exists, and, if so, to determine if it is due to exposures occurring before the mid-1950s, when benzene disappeared as a solvent in the Swedish paint industry.

Methods The cohort of 41 1 men who had worked in the Swedish paint industry and had been exposed to organic solvents for at least 5 years during 1955-1975 was followed from 1961 to 1994 for causes of death in the mortality register and from 1961 to 1992 for cases of cancer in the Swedish cancer register.

Results The number of paint industry workers who had died, plus the number of deaths in the major disease groups and the number of cancers reported to the cancer registry, was close to the expected.